Unsurprisingly, this adaptation of Tolkien’s lore did not disappoint when it came to numbers. It attracted a whopping 25 million viewers on opening day, obliterating the 10 million set by HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon just over a week prior.
This was likely helped by the headline-dominating publicity regarding the sheer expense of this new fantasy series.
The production for the first season alone allegedly cost around $462 million (£399 million) which works out to around $57 million (£49 million) per episode – nearly twice the cost of Stranger Things season four .
This makes it the most expensive TV series ever made – even greatly overshadowing the budgets of several major films of this year, including Top Gun: Maverick and The Batman, which cost $170 million (£147 million) and $185 million (£161 million) to make respectively.
Paramount
These numbers may be eye-wateringly high, but they will spark curiosity from many, even those not even remotely interested in The Lord of the Rings. This is a new era for television, with VFX, costumes and sets on a scale that we could never have imagined before, and a budget we may not see again for a very long time.
The series has been praised by critics for recapturing the majestic and ethereal tone that Peter Jackson’s original films are known for. It’s got a big advantage over rival series House of the Dragon in that it is much more family-friendly – no horrific birth sequences, gory blood baths or incestuous sex scenes will be found here.
It also has the benefit of being attached to arguably the most famous fantasy series that the world has ever known. Even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, many are bound to keep tuning in purely to find out how it interweaves with the stories already told.
This means that viewers who are already committed to the show will either lock in for an annual price or continue to pay the higher fees until the show finishes in mid-October. I have no doubts that people will continue to keep watching – especially as we enter the colder months, and viewers will seek to stay inside and settle down over some good telly.
What I’m watching this week
Autumn telly is finally coming back, and with it comes one of the most convoluted quiz shows that I can think of. Only Connect is hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell and revolves around the contestants’ finding connections and sequences within a series of clues.
However, the questions themselves will leave you often banging your head against a wall, they are that ridiculous. Nonetheless, the satisfaction you get when you manage to get one right is unbeatable. Only Connect airs on BBC Two every Monday at 8pm, and you catch up on it over on BBC iPlayer.
Author: Hannah Cowton-Barnes, Entertainment Editor, Tech Advisor
As Tech Advisor’s Entertainment Editor, Hannah is the resident expert in all things streaming, film and TV. Before joining Tech Advisor in 2019, she studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds and created a website dedicated to geek culture and lifestyle. She’s also reviewed a whole range of gadgets including flagship smartphones, wearables and styling tools. Outside of Foundry, she’s written freelance pieces for Polygon, Metro and Den of Geek, and is proud to be a Women Techmakers Ambassador for Google.
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